Imagine a small animal with a super nose — that is an echidna! Here is how it feels a bug moving and grabs it, step by step:
- It sniffs and feels with its long snout. The echidna's snout works like a super nose. It can feel tiny movements and even tiny signals from an insect hiding in dirt or leaves.
- It moves the ground a little. When the echidna senses a bug, it pokes or scruffles the soil or leaf litter with its snout so the bug moves closer.
- It flicks out a sticky tongue. The echidna has a long, sticky tongue. It shoots the tongue out very quickly to touch and pick up the bug.
- It pulls the bug in and swallows it. The tongue brings the bug to the echidna’s mouth, and the echidna swallows its snack.
Fun facts: echidnas like to eat ants, termites, and worms. They have spines like a little porcupine for protection, and they can curl up if they are scared. But when they want food, their super snout and sticky tongue help them find and grab bugs!